Gas burner



@w 5, 1939- F. A. BAYNES 2,181,862

GAS BURNER Filed April .2, 1958 L fz rf Z6 /9 ZHMM NVE/2123i WWW , ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITED STATES ZJSLSGZ PATENT GFFICE 1 Claim.

'Ihis invention relates to a gas burner of the type in which air and gas are mixed by means of a Bunsen tube.

The ob-ject of this invention is to produce a 5 burner of this character in which a greater 4amount of air is entrained in the gas and the 'gas and air are mixed more intimately so that the heating and illuminating eect arey materially increased for a given amount of gas consumed.

This burner is designed to take advantage of ,several positive and well known laws of pipe ydynamics which are as follows:

(1) Gas or vapor, under pressure, issuing from an oriiice will form a conical column.

2) It will nu and slide along the inside wall of a tube.

(3) A gas or iiuid, passing swiftly over an angle, tends to create a Vacuum at that point.

(4) All gases mix quicker under the inuence 2o of a vacuum.

5) The efficiency of a gas burner depends .mainly on the pressure ory velocity of the mixture.

This burner is constructed to fit the conical column of the gas, which gives it a perfectly '25 streamlinedV surface throughout its length. The expanding force of the gas bearing against the bevelled surface of the tube tends to greatly accelerate the velocity of the column by the well known law of streamlines. It has several small 30 expansion offsets which in eect divide the tube into a plurality of sections that have two new and unique functions. One is the mixture rushing over these angles to a wall of larger diameter tending to form a Vacuum at these angles, which 35 pulls the mixture to an acute angle at these points as the mixture passes from one tube seotion to another and which amounts to a sudden expansion tending to rarify the mixture. The continuedincreasing area of the tubesv tends to 40 rarify the mixture as it travels towards the'outlet, but the natural determination of all gas to maintain its natural density draws the extra air required through the air gate and up the tubes. Thus the combi-nation of the streamlines of the 45 tube and the offsets gives the mixture a greater velocity and a greater proportion of air properly mixed, so that it burns at the outlet with a roaring noise typical of a pressure burner and the flame is nearly invisible.

50 The discharge ends of these tube sections at the. offsets should be mechanically sharp without any bevel or radius on the' inner side. This results in scraping or cutting the gas that is beneficial. This is demonstrated by the loss of 55 efficiency in thel burner when these tube sections have a radius on the inside of their discharge ends.

The eiciency obtained in this construction is more particularly noticeable with manufactured gas than with natural gas.l Manufactured. gas being of a higher gravity, it is assumed that its particles are coarser and unevenly distributed and the scraping obtained from passing the same over the sharp angles tends to break up, redistribute, and rene the gasy to a greater extent l0 than with natural gas which is already highly refined.

This burner, in all tests, has produced a hotter flame than any other now in use. With natural gas, in comparativer tests with other burners, by l" l vapo-rizing given amounts of water, it has been demonstrated that an increase of twenty per cent in efficiency is obtained. Due to the extremely hot flame which is obtained by this burner it also produces this heat more quickly than other burners using approximately the same amount of gas.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a vertical section of one form of gas burner embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal sections taken on the correspondingly numbered lines in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 isa vertical section showing a modified form of this invention- In the following description similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawing:

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3 the numeral I0 represents, in general, an upright tubular mixing body or conduit through` which gas and air are adapted tomove and become mixed in accordance with the principle of a Bumsen burner or tube. This conduit or tube is provided at its lower end with an inlet for gas and air and at its upper end with an outlet where the gas and air after having been mixed are burned in the form of a flame which may be utilized for heating and illuminating purposes.

Various means may be provided for controlling the supply of gas and air to the inlet of this mixing conduit, those shown in the drawing being merely typicaly of suitable means for this purpose and as there shown the same are constructed as foll-ows:

The numeral Il represents a tubular air valve neck which is connected at its upper end with theA lower end of the mixing conduit and provided in its. side with one or more air supply openingsor ports I2 whereby the interior of this 55 neck is placed in communication with the outer atmosphere. These air supply openings may be covered more or less for the purpose of regulating the amount of air which enters the mixing tube by means of a valve I3 which is preferably constructed in the form of a sleeve surroundinglthe neck II and provided with one or more openings I adapted to register more or less fully with the openings I2 in the neck and thereby vary the effective area of the openings I2 and permitting the amount of air entering the inlet of the mixing tube to be regulated.

The gas may be supplied to the burner fromv any suitable source by means of a gas supply pipev I5 and the amount of gas admitted to the mixing tube is regulated by a valve device which may consist of a tubular valve body I6 having its lower inlet end connected with the gas supply pipe I5 while its upper outlet end is connected with the lower` end of the air valve neck II. At its upper end the gas valve body is provided with a transverse head or wall Il which contains a central gas outlet or port IB preferably of upwardly tapering or conical form. The amount of gas passing through this port I8 is regulated by means of a vertically movable valve plug I9 of conical form mounted on the upper end of a slide or carrier 2@ which is capable of sliding vertically in the gas valve body. `Adjustment of the gas valve plug I9 relative to the gas port I8 is effected in the present instance by means of an adjusting screw 2l working in a threaded opening 22 in the side of the gas valve body and provided at its outer end with a handle or button 23 whereby the screw may be turned while its inner end is provided with a conical wedge 24 engaging with a shoulder 25 on the adjacent part of the valve plug carrier 20. Upon turning this adjusting screw in one direction its conical end or wedge `2d will raise the carrier 22 and move the valve plug I2 toward the port I8 and thereby close the latter more or less so that the amount of gas passing into the lower or outlet end of the mixing tube will be reduced. Upon turning the screw in the opposite direction the wedge 24 will be withdrawn thereby permitting the carrier and its valve plug to descend and move more or less away from the gas port I8 so as to increase the flow of gas into the mixing tube. The descent of the gas plug carrier may be effected solely by gravity but this is preferably assisted by means of a spring 26 arranged in the body of the gas valve and interposed between the upper end of the carrier andthe head I7 of the valve body.

As the gas issues under pressure from the port I8 it passes upwardly into the central part of the mixing tube and produces a vacuum therein whereby air is drawn from the external atmosphere through the ports I2 so that the upwardly flowing stream of gas is surrounded by an annular envelope of air in the well known manner of a Bunsen type gas burner.

As the gas and air move upwardly through the tubular mixing conduit the same become mixed and burn at the upper outlet end of this conduit above a screen 2 made of gauze or wo-ven wire which is mounted on the upper end of this conduit and serves to prevent the iiame from ashing back into the conduit and burning the gas at the port I8.

'I'he mixing tube or conduit of the present burner embodies these present improvements and its general organization issuch that the stream of gas and air upon iiowing upwardly from the lower inlet of this tube to the upper outlet thereof is expanded abruptly, sharply and suddenly so as to aid in mingling the gas and air. As the gas and air are thus expanded the same are also passed over a sharp edge on the interior of the mixing tube whereby the relatively coarse particles of gas are divided into smaller particles thus facilitating a more intimate mixture of the combustible elements of the gas and air. As the result of this sudden expansion of the air and gas during their upward movement through the mixing conduit the same produces .la vacuum effect upon the mixture of gas and Same.

Due to this sudden expansion of the air and gas mixture, the scraping action thereon while thus expanding and the stretching to which the same is subjected by the reason of thevacuum which is created during such expansion the mixed vatoms of gas and air are divided into minute particles which are much smaller than those which exist in the gas and air in their natural condition, whichsmaller particles mix more intimately with each other and cause the gas to be distributed throughout the air with greater uniformity and intimacy, thereby causing this mixture of gas vand air when ignited topr'oducea flame which has greater heating and illuminating properties.

In the embodiment of this invention shown in `Figs. 1 and 3 this purpose is accomplished by constructing the mixing tube or conduit so as to provide a lower section 28, an intermediate section 29, and an upper section 30, all of which are preferably made of very thin sheet metal, such as brass. 'Ihe lower section 28 of the mixing conduit is of upwardly aring conical form and has its lower end, which forms the inlet of the mixing tube, connected with the upper end of the tubular neck II forming part of the air regulating device. The intermediate conduit section 29 is of larger diameter than the lower section 28 and also preferably of upwardly flaring conical form, the angle of the flare of .these two conduit sections being preferably the same. 'Ihe lower end portion of the intermediate conduit section surrounds the upper end portion of the lower conduit section 28 and at its lower extremity this intermediate section is provided with a contracted collar 3l which is secured by brazing or any other suitable manner to the exterior of the lower conduit section 28 at a distance from the upper end of the intermediate section, thereby offsetting the lower part of the intermediate conduit section from the upper part of the lower conduit section and forming between them an annular pocket 32 which surrounds the lower conduit section and opens upwardly or toward the outlet of the mixing tube or conduit. p

The upper end of the lower conduit section 28 is provided with an upwardly projecting annular sharp edge 33, the inner side 3d of which is straight, continuous or flush with the bore of this conduit section while the outer side 35 of this edge is bevelled upwardly and inwardly relative to the axis of the burner, as shown in Fig. 1.

As the mixed stream of air and gas under pressure during its upward movement in the mixing conduit reaches the sharp edge 33 at the upper end of thelower conduit section 28 the same is instantly releasedand caused to expand abruptly into the intermediatel conduit section whichv is" ofI larger diameter andthen continues this expansion asthe stream in its upward movementl contacts the' upwardly flaring bore of thel intermediate' conduit section. As thel mixture off gas' and air expands suddenly over the sharpedge at the upper end of the lower conduit section this' sharpl edge operates as a knife or scraper, whereby the atoms of gas and air are split or divided into smaller particles and caused to mingle more intimately. The sudden expansion of the mixture of gas and air also aids in producing a more uniform and intimate mixture of the atoms or molecules of gas and air with each other and this mingling of the minute or ne particles of gas and air is further promoted by reason of the stretching effect which is exerted upon the gaseous mixture as it passes laterally over the open end of the pocket 32 due to the fact that a vacuum is produced in this pocket as the stream of gaseous mixture flows laterally over 4this pocket and then upwardly on the inner side of the intermediate mixing tube, thereby still further assisting in mingling the constituents of the gas and air and converting the same into a condition of maximum combustibility.

This operation ci scraping the gaseous mixture, abruptly expanding the same after being scraped, and also stretching this mixture while the same is expanding and moving upwardly in the mixing conduit is repeated between the upper end of the intermediate conduit section 29 and the upper conduit section 3Q by constructing the upper part of the intermediate conduit section 29 'and the lower part of the upper conduit section 3i) as follows:

As best shown in Fig, 1, the upper conduit section 3B, although made of cylindrical form, is of larger diameter than the upper part of the intermediate conduit section 29 and the lower part of the upper conduit section surrounds the upper part of the intermediate conduit section so as to be offset therefrom. The lower end of the upper conduit section is provided with a contracted collar 36 which is secured to the exterior of the intermediate section in any suitable man` ner, thereby forming an annular pocket 3l' between the upper end portion of the intermediate conduit section 29 and the lower part of the upper conduit section 3D which pocket is closed at its lower end but opens at its upper end toward the upper outlet of the burner. IThe upper end of the intermediate conduit section is provided with a sharp annular scraping or cutting edge 3B the inner side of which is continuous, straight or flush with the conical bore or inner side of this conduit section while the outer side di! of this edge is bevelled inwardly and upwardly toward the axis of the burner.

As the stream of mixed air and gas, during its upward movement under pressure, reaches the sharp edge S3 at the upper end of the intermem diate conduit section 29 this gaseous mixture expands abruptly into engagement with the bore of the upper conduit section 3l), whereby the effect oi scraping or splitting the atoms of gas and air is continued, expansion of the mixture for the purpose of more intimately mixing the same and also stretching this mixture by means of the vacuum eifect of the pocket 3T is repeated so as to obtain a greater uniformity of distribution of gas and air particles in the same manner heretofore described with reference to the means located'` between the upper end' of thel lower mixing conduit and theintermediat'e mixing conduit.

After the" gasand'v air have beenL mixed*v in the manner described the streamof this mixture passes upwardly through-the gauze screen 2T and when lighted burns a flame above this screen ata temperature Iwhich is much higher than that which is obtainable from the same amount' of gas when burned under conditions heretofore known. It is therefore possible t'oobtain a greater heating effect when used solelyfior heat'- ing purposes and also a more intense illuminating effect when this gas is burned in connection with a mantle or other means which are more particularly designed for illuminating purposes and permit this result to be obtained at a greatly reduced cost on account of the saving in gaseous fuel.

The screen 2l may be held upon the upper end of the upper conduit section in various ways for example by means of a retaining sleeve 4| which is slipped over the upper end of the upper conduit section and provided with an inwardly opening f annular channel 42 which receives the marginal or edge portion of vthe screen 2l, as shown in Fig 1.

Instead of subjecting the gaseous mixture to two successive stages of scraping, expanding and stretching operations, as occurs in the use of the construction shown in Fig. l, the advantages of this invention may be obtained in a large measure by subjecting the gaseous mixture to only one stage of scraping, expanding and stretching operations. A burner for accomplishing this purpose in a modified form, as shown in Fig. 5, is constructed as follows:

The numeral 43 represents a lower upwardly aring conical conduit section and 44 an upper cylindrical conduit section. The lower part of the lower conduit section 43 is provided with an air inlet opening l5 which may be regulated by means of a rotatable valve sleeve d and gas under pressure is supplied to the lower end of the lower mixing conduit section and regulated by means which correspond to those shown in Fig. 1 and the same description and reference characters therefcre apply to both of these gures.

As the mixture of gas and air reaches the upper end of the conduit section l3 the same expands laterally into engagement with the bore of the upper conduit section mi which is of larger diameter and during this expansion the gas passes laterally over a sharp edge 4l arranged at the upper end of the tube section i3 and having a straight inner side 43 and a bevelled outer side 59, and as this gaseous mixture expands and movesy upwardly in the upper tube section 44 this mixture is also stretched due to the vacuum eiect which is produced on the same by the annular pocket 5G arranged around the upper end portion oi the tube d3 and opening toward the outlet of this mixing tube.

'Ihis last mentioned burner may also be provided at the upper end of its upper conduit section lll with a screen 5l made of woven wire and held in place on this conduit sectionby means of a retaining sleeve 52.

Owing to simplicity in construction of this burner the same can be produced economicallyy and as it contains no delicate parts it is not likely to get out of order.

I claim as my invention:

A gas .burner comprising a tubular conduit which is generally of conical form and provided at its small end with an inlet for the combustible mixture and at its large end with an outlet at which said mixture burns, said conduit including a lower conical section of comparatively'small' diameter and an upper section of relatively large diameter and the lower end of the upper section overhanging the outer side of the large end of 5 said lower section so as to be offset laterally therefrom and form an annular pocket between the inner side of the upper section and the outer side of the lower section, which pocket is closed at its lower end so as to cut off communication 10 at this place between the interior of the conduit and the external atmosphere while the upper end 2,181,8efar of this pocket opens into the interior ofv said y 

